Wisconsin’s Jeffrey Langenhahn with XPO is among several former grand champions who have qualified for this summer’s National Truck Driving Championships and National Step Van Driving Championships.
Winner of NTDC’s best-in-show in 2014, Langenhahn will mark his 12th trip to the tournament where he’ll compete in the tanker division. Other grand champions who’ve punched their ticket to the summer classic include Connecticut’s Roland Bolduc, Nevada’s Gragg Wilson and Ohio’s Scott Woodrome.
Being a member of the exclusive grand champions club has its advantages, Langenhahn recently told Transport Topics that, “To be the grand champion — that was in 2014 in the twins class — it just gives you so much more confidence, I guess. I could say you're proud of winning the grand champion. It's something that I'm aiming to do again.”
“So every year, that is my ultimate goal is to get the grand champion award,” he added. “So just prepare the best I can and go from there.”
The road to the grand champion trophy goes through the run-off round. The top five drivers from the nine vehicle classes advance to the run-off on the final day of competition. From there, the NTDC best-in-show is determined. Langenhahn explained: “You have to be able to make that top five, so that's the ultimate goal. And then you can just go from there. There's plenty of years where, you know, you can do really well in the finals and bring home the gold.”
Name: Jeff Langenhahn
Age: 59
From: Plover, Wis.
Company: XPO
Vehicle: tanker
Favorite food: Fresh cheese curds
Favorite movie: “Dumb and Dumber”
Favorite music: Country
Favorite vacation: Black Hills of South Dakota
Favorite part of NTDC: “Camaraderie. Just seeing all the people; just absolute love just visiting with everybody and catching up on things. And I really look forward to that every single year.”
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